The Freehand Brushwork in Traditional Chinese Painting

The Freehand Brushwork in Traditional Chinese Painting

The two main techniques in Chinese painting are Meticulous painting and Freehand painting. However, if the expressive techniques were not restricted within one type of genre, then we not only made our description of things more complete, but also gained access to a both colorful and dynamic perceptual abundance. Therefore modern painters have often mixed several color on one brush or mixed their colors with black inks. As a result, they have obtained more natural and richly varied color tones.

Nevertheless we should keep in mind to make sure that the use of the extraordinary Chinese brush of capturing instantaneously the vital life force of nature is the mission of a particular culture; otherwise there is no difference with the water color painting. Most watercolor paintings are comprised of washes ,linear or dry-brush marks. Every mark we make is influenced by how saturated the brush is with pigment and how much pressure we apply to the brush as we move it across the paper surface, although which to a certain degree is similar to the creating method of Chinese painting, the building-up of all these marks in order to construct a three dimensional world, or just the visual impact is the goal of the watercolor paintings.

The painting above is Slight Freehand Style. The two frogs are the main images which are represented with a few freehand brushworks. No colors added to the frogs as to retain the varying degrees of intensity of ink and vivid brushworks. Black does not please the eye or awaken another sense. It is the agent of the mind even more than the beautiful color of the palette or prism. In traditional culture, the inherent potential serene power in Black can leave sobriety and calmness in our minds. In ancient culture, the Chinese word to express the meaning of dark or black was written as玄,which also means mysterious and abstruse. When something we could not understand by reasoning, and only could through the power of enlightenment or be inspired by meditation, we could refer it to玄.

Therefore in order to create the ambience of tranquility to settle the minds, some ink is added in the colors to tone down the brightness of them. In the picture, the colored

banana leaves were a bit darkened. While contemplating the overall structure of a painting, my mindset was in a tranquil state to show the reverence for the spirited nature through the vigorous movements of the brush.